http://www.benturner.com/robinhood/
_The Quest for Robin Hood_ by Jim Lees
Nottingham: Temple Nostalgia, 1987.
Reviewed by Dr. Frederick Walker.
Jim Lees has been investigating the mystery of Robin
Hood for many years. For some time he has led tours of
the area and answered letters of schoolchildren addressed
to "Mr. Robin Hood, Sherwood Forest." In 1987, he finally
committed his own theory to publication. The theory has
had a rough ride, but the scholarship supporting it is a
treasure trove. Lees believes that our hero was one Robert
of Kime, a minor nobleman distantly related to the earls of
Huntingdon. He sets the tale in the late 13th century,
following 2 of the earliest Scottish chroniclers, claiming
that it all has to do with the Battle of Eversham. He
cites 1272, when a large force rode north to deal with
unnamed outlaws. This theory is weak. Lees puts too much
stress on Robert of Kime's single year of outlawry in 1226.
Since he was born in 1210, Kime was only 16. There is no
proof he committed any offences as an adult. As Kime is
not known to have fought in the Battle of Eversham, it is
unlikely that it rendered him a "displaced nobleman."
Finally, Lees conceeds that Kime was a conservative
supporter of Evil King John, which would seem to disqualify
him as Robin Hood. But the publishers have filled this book
with remarkable illustrations, including the tomb of Matilda
FitzWalter (with a death-effigy that depicts her as an
attractive young woman with strongly negroid features!) and a
map of Sherwood Forest that includes a river named Bryunsdale.
Could this be the answer to the age-old question of whether
Robin was a Sherwood or Barnsdale outlaw? Maybe "Barnsdale" was
a part of Sherwood! Lees refutes the Wakefield theory (that our
hero was a valet of Edward II) and claims to have identified
the historical Sir Richard of the Lee -- a man by that name in
Kime's day whose personal problems were strikingly similar to the
sad knight of the ballads. And perhaps Lees' most startling
discovery is that 3 men named Robert, John and William were
outlawed in nearby Staffordshire in 1189. Our hero is often
called Robin of Loxley. And Loxley is in Staffordshire! Were
these 3 outlaws Robert Hood, John Little and William Scarlet?